Improvement in corn and cotton-seed planters



Z. T. LEE. Corn and Cotton Seed-Planter.

No. 221,241. P-a tented Nov. 4, 1879.

1 l I l llH WEE M55135;

I/MIM/ .LITHOGRAPHER, WASHING UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ZAGHARY TAYLOR LEE, OF PLATTSBURG, MISSISSIPPI.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORN AND COTTON-SEED PLANTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 221,241, dated November4, 1879 application filed September 24, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ZACHARY T. LEE, ot' Plattsburg,in the county ofWinston and State of Mississippi, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Planters; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part ofthis specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in corn and cotton-seed planters;and it consists in the combination of the driving-wheel shaft having acrank on one end and a slotted connecting-rod, which unites the saidcrank with a crank on the feed-cylinder, the connectingrod having arecess at each end of its slot, so that should any attempt be made tomove the machine backward the guide-pin will catch in one of the notchesand at once stop any backward movement of the feed-cylinder, and thusprevent the waste of grain, as will be more fully described-hereinafter.

I The accompanying drawings represent my invention.

Figure l is a side elevation of my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinalsection of the machine, taken through the seed-box and Fi 3 is a detailview.

a represents the side beam of the frame, and

c the driving-wheel, which is journaled in the rear end of the frame inthe usual manner. On one end of the shaft of this wheel is formed acrank, d, and to this crank and the crank e of the feed-cylinder isattached the connecting-rod g, for the purpose of giving the cylinder arotary motion as the wheel revolves. In this connecting rod is made theslot i, through which the guide-pin 0 passes, and at each end of theslot is made a notch or recess, 1*, so shaped that when thedriving-wheel begins to turn back, when turning the machine at the endof the row or at any other time, the guiding-pill at once catches in oneof the notches and prevents the cylinder from turning backward, and thusprevents wasting the grain. The notches, when the machine is movingregularly forward, do not in any manner interfere with any of theworking parts, but lock the cylinder as soon as any backward motion ismade, and thus no grain is lost in moving the machine backward or inturning it around.

The cylinder 8 is provided with a suitable number of recesses toreeeivethe grain from the hopper above, and in these recesses are placed thesprings e, which formthe bottoms of the recesses, so as to givesufficiently, as the cylinder revolves, to prevent the grains from beingbroken, or any part of the machine from being clogged or injured.Secured to the under side of the bottom a: of the hopper is the curvedarm '1, which fits snugly around the rear side of the cylinder andserves to clear away any surplus of grain from the re cesses.

When cotton-seed is being planted a cylinder like the one shown in Fig.3 is used. \Vhen the seed-box and connecting-rod are removed and theharrow z attached, a cultivator is formed.

Having thus described my invention, I elaim-- 1 In a planter, thecombination of the driving-wheel and its crank, the feed-cylinder andits crank, and the connecting-rod g, having the slot 1', and recess orrecesses 1", whereby the feed-cylinder is prevented from turningbackward, substantially as shown.

2. A seedcylinder, 8, having the springs 22, placed in the bottoms ofthe recesses, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this12th day of July, 1879. ZAGHARY TAYLOR LEE. Witnesses:

O. J. MILLER, J. G. HOLDER.

